Francis M. Fraine

Francis M. "Fraz" Fraine is a retired Billerica police officer who served the town as a library trustee, a member of the Board of Appeal and the School Committee, a long-time town meeting member and, from 2002 to 2005, a selectman. In 1980 he was vice president of the Billerica Police Relief Association, and in 2013 the town's Memorial Day parade had "retired Police Officer Francis Fraine" as its honorary parade marshal; in 2022 he was the parade's grand marshal.

In 1981 he was appointed to an unexpired term on the Board of Trustees of the Billerica Public Library, in the first full year of the new library building, and he was reappointed in July 1983 for a term to June 1986. He was first elected a town meeting member in the 1980s, and he served in the town meeting for most of the next two decades, where the records show him often moving the question to end debate. In July 1993 he became an associate member of the Board of Appeal, and a regular member a year later; he resigned on April 27, 1999, and the board thanked him "for his many years of dedication and service."

He was elected to the School Committee in April 1999, winning one of the two seats with 2,118 votes, alongside Thomas F. Galligani, and served a three-year term. In 2001 he ran for selectman and lost to Michael S. Rosa and Ellen Day Rawlings. The same spring he was the petitioner for the article, carried at town meeting on May 17, 2001, by which the town accepted the state laws allowing a uniform 60 percent increase in the property tax exemptions for elderly, disabled and other qualified residents.

On April 6, 2002, he was elected to the Board of Selectmen with 2,826 votes, taking the seat of Peter M. Coppinger, who did not run again; Robert M. Correnti was re-elected with him. The board made him vice chairman under James F. O'Donnell Jr., and after the election of 2004 it elected him chairman. As a selectman he sat on the Housing Partnership Committee, the Tax Title Land Sale committee, the DPW Director Search Committee, the Town Manager Employment Sub-Committee and the Long Range Master Plan Oversight Committee. In the election of April 2, 2005, he finished fourth of four candidates for two seats, behind Kathryn M. Matos and Marc T. Lombardo, and left the board. He later served on the Elderly and Disabled Taxation Fund Committee, to 2011, and from 2016 to 2018 he was an alternate member of the Viet Nam Veterans' Memorial Committee.

References

1. Warrior 1980 (Billerica Memorial High School yearbook), advertisement: Billerica Police Relief Association Inc., Vice-President Francis Fraine
2. Billerica Town Report 1981, Library Board of Trustees: Francis M. Fraine, appointed to unexpired term, to 6/30/83
3. Billerica Town Report 1981, Billerica Public Library report: trustees include Francis Fraine; 1981 the first full year of the new library
4. Billerica Town Report 1993, Board of Appeals: associate members, Francis M. Fraine, appointed 7/93
5. Billerica Town Report 1993, town meeting of October 12, 1993: Francis "Fraz" Fraine appointed a teller
6. Billerica Town Report 1999, town election: School Committee three years, Francis "Fraz" Fraine elected
7. Billerica Town Report 1999, Board of Appeal report: thanks to Francis M. Fraine for his many years of dedication and service
8. Billerica Town Report 2001, annual town meeting, sixth session May 17, 2001: Article 42 (uniform 60% increase in tax exemptions) carried
9. Billerica Town Report 2001, annual town meeting warrant: Article 42 submitted by Francis Fraine, petitioner
10. Billerica Town Report 2002, report of the Board of Selectmen: Francis M. Fraine elected, replacing Peter M. Coppinger; vice chairman
11. Billerica Town Report 2004, report of the Board of Selectmen: the board reorganized electing Francis M. Fraine as chairman
12. Billerica Town Report 2004, appointed committees: Housing Partnership Committee, Francis M. Fraine, Selectman appointee
13. Billerica Town Report 2005, annual town election of April 2, 2005: selectman, Matos, Lombardo, Correnti, Fraine
14. Billerica Town Report 2013, Memorial Day parade: Honorary Parade Marshal, retired Police Officer Francis Fraine